(25 September 1911 – 13 March 1980)

Anti-apartheid
Activist & Treason Trialist

Sourced From: SA History Online

Lilian Masediba Ngoyi was born in Pretoria in 1911 to a family of six
children, and obtained her primary schooling in Kilnerton. She later enrolled
for a nurses' training course, but she eventually took up work as a machinist
in a clothing factory where she worked from 1945 to 1956.

She joined the Garment Workers Union (GWU) under Solly Sachs, and
soon became one of its leading figures. Impressed by the spirit of African
National Congress (ANC) volunteers, she joined the ANC during the 1950
Defiance Campaign and was arrested for using facilities in a post office
that were reserved for white people.

Her energy and her gift as a public speaker won her rapid recognition, and
within a year of joining the ANC she was elected as president of the ANC
Women's League. When the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW)
was formed in 1954, she became one of its national vice-presidents, and in 1956
she was elected president.

In 1955, she travelled to Europe as a delegate to a conference called by
the Women's International Democratic Federation, and was invited by socialist
delegates to tour Russia, China and other eastern bloc countries. She became a
member of the Transvaal ANC executive from 1955, and in December 1956 she
became the first woman ever elected to the ANC national executive committee.

Ngoyi also gained wide recognition overseas as a radical opponent of
apartheid. Together with Dora Tamana, she was arrested while trying to board a
ship on her way to a conference in Switzerland without a passport. She
addressed protest meetings against apartheid in a number of world centres,
including London's Trafalgar Square.

On the 9th of August 1956, she led the women's anti-pass march to
the Union Buildings in Pretoria, one of the largest
demonstrations staged in South African history. Holding thousands of petitions
in one hand, Ngoyi was the one who knocked on Prime Minister Strijdom’s door to
hand over the petitions.

In December 1956, Ngoyi was arrested for high treason along with 156 other
leading figures, and stood trial until 1961 as one of the accused in the
four–year-long Treason Trial. While the trial was still on and the accused
out on bail, Ngoyi was imprisoned for five months under the 1960 state of
emergency. She spent much of this time in solitary confinement.

She was first issued her banning orders in October 1962, which confined her
to Orlando Township in Johannesburg and she was forbidden to attend any
gatherings.

In the mid-1960s, she was jailed under the 90-day detention act and spent
71 days in solitary confinement.

Her banning orders lapsed in 1972, but were renewed for a new five-year
period in 1975. During the time of her banning, Ngoyi’s great energies were
totally suppressed and she struggled to earn a decent living.

Affectionately known as ‘Ma Ngoyi’, she suffered heart trouble and died on
the 13th of March 1980 at the age of 69.